How stress reduces our motivation

Scientific litsketch on boosting motivation

Research shows that experiencing stress makes us avoid tasks that are more difficult, taking away our motivation to engage in more challenging tasks (Bogdanov et al., 2021).

In an experiment, people were given stress on either day one or day two by making them prepare and deliver a speech on why they are the best candidate for a job in front of two judges who remained unresponsive throughout the speech. To further increase stress, they were also asked to calculate and speak out the answers to subtraction questions for five minutes in front of the judges. The participants’ saliva samples were taken at various times throughout the experiment, and indeed their cortisol levels increased from 25 minutes after doing the speech and calculation tasks. 40 minutes after these tasks, people were given a task where they could choose to do either a more difficult task or an easier task.

The results showed that after experiencing stress, people chose the easier task more frequently. Stress makes us want to avoid tasks that require more effort. This shows that in order to nurture and maintain high levels of motivation, we need to be better at managing our stress, and nurturing our mental health.

Bogdanov, Mario, Jonas P. Nitschke, Sophia LoParco, Jennifer A. Bartz, and A. Ross Otto. "Acute Psychosocial Stress Increases Cognitive-Effort Avoidance." Psychological Science(2021): 09567976211005465.